Hydrothermally stable alumina

ABSTRACT

The hydrothermal stability of transition aluminas used as adsorbents and catalyst carriers is improved through their treatment with a soluble silicon inorganic compound such as sodium silicate wherein the silicon compound is mixed with the alumina powder at the production stage of forming particulates by liquid addition. The silicon containing particulates are activated by heating at a temperature lower than 500° C. and treated, before or after the thermal activation, by a colloidal silica solution to produce a hydrothermally stable, low dust alumina. The total silica content of the final product is typically less than 5 mass-%.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a hydrothermally stable alumina, itsprocess of manufacture and its use as a desiccant. More specifically,the present invention relates to a process of treating transitionaluminas with a soluble silicon inorganic compound.

The industrial activated alumina adsorbents are produced exclusively bythe rapid (flash) calcination of the Bayer process derived aluminumhydroxide (Gibbsite, ATH) powder followed by wet agglomeration andthermal activation. These adsorbents exhibit X-ray diffraction patternsof transition alumina phases. They typically have high BET surface areaand good adsorption properties for moisture and other contaminants. Thismakes them suitable for treatment of various industrial streams.

Most of the adsorption processes using activated alumina requirefrequent thermal regeneration to remove the adsorbed water and to renderthe adsorbent active for the next adsorption cycle. In the course ofregeneration, the adsorbent experiences the simultaneous effect ofelevated temperature, pressure and high moisture content, with hotliquid water percolating through the adsorbent bed, causing hydrothermalaging and loss of adsorption performance.

While the loss of performance over regeneration cycles is small in somedesiccant applications and the adsorbent can last thousand of cycles,there are some severe applications resulting in much fasterdeterioration of performance, which are challenging even for the moststable alumina adsorbents.

Natural gas drying presents the most prominent example of a severeapplication.

Activated aluminas have been widely used for NG drying for about twentyyears. However, the short lifetime caused by hydrothermal aging led toreplacement of activated alumina by molecular sieves in most of theunits. In spite of this, the inlet portion of the adsorbent bed stillneeds a protective layer of another adsorbent capable to handle thecarryover of liquids and heavy hydrocarbons.

Alumina quickly loses its drying performance when used as protectivelayer. Hence, there is a need of a hydrothermally stable alumina thatwill provide both protection against heavy hydrocarbons and additionaldrying capacity in the equilibrium portion of the bed. It is known thatactivated alumina is superior to molecular sieves as desiccants at highwater concentrations.

Another example of severe desiccant applications are some internallyheated dryer for compressed air where a quick deterioration of cyclicadsorbent performance takes place.

In spite of the fact that the need of improvement in the hydrothermalstability of activated alumina has been acknowledged (see the article ofR. Dale Woosley “Activated Alumina Desiccants” in ALUMINACHEMICALS—SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HANDBOOK edited by L. D. Hart, AmericanCeramic Society, 1990, page 241-250), there remains a lack in reportedsuccess in preparing hydrothermally stable aluminas.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,779 by Murrell et al. discloses a compositioncomprising discrete particles of bulk silica supported on the externalsurface of a porous gamma alumina support. Aqueous colloidal silica isclaimed as a source of the silica material. Heating above 500° C. inpresence of steam is required to disperse at least a portion of thesilica over the alumina surface. Preparation of active crackingcatalysts, not the improvement of the material stability, is the focusof the invention by Murrell et al. High temperature is needed in orderfor the alumina and the silica components to form an activealuminosilicate phase.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,590 discloses that the mechanical and thermalproperties of aluminum oxide are improved through their impregnationwith an organic silicon compound dissolved in an organic solventfollowed by thermal treatment and controlled oxidation at 500° C.Colloidal silica does not work for this purpose and it is listed in thepatent as a “negative” example.

The patent above and other literature sources deal with the BET surfacearea stability of alumina towards high temperature treatments. The focusof these prior art developments is to delay the alumina phasetransformation in high temperature application such as catalysts forexhaust gas treatment. Besides cerium, rare-earth and alkaline-earthelements, silicon was also found to have stabilizing effect on alumina.The paper “Stabilization of Alumina toward Thermal Sintering by SiliconAddition” authored by Bernard Beguin et al., J. OF CATALYSIS, 127,595-604, (1991) studies the thermal stability of alumina towardsintering at 1050° to 1220° C. in presence of steam. The authors assumethat the hydroxyl groups of alumina react with the silicon containingprecursor.

W. R. Grace U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,836; U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,526 and U.S.Pat. No. 6,165,351 cover preparation of silica-containing bayeritealumina which is used to obtain hydrothermally stable silica“stabilized” eta alumina. The latter may be used in preparation ofcatalytic compositions, especially for the catalytic cracking. Sodiumsilicate is added to the aluminum sulfate, sodium aluminate andmagnesium hydroxide which are further mixed and reacted to precipitatethe bayerite alumina.

Phosphorus has been also found useful for improving the thermalstability of gamma alumina with regard to sintering and phase transitionto alpha alumina (see, for example, the paper from A. Stanislaus et al.“Effect of Phosphorus on the Acidity of gamma—Alumina and on the ThermalStability of gamma-Alumina Supported Nickel-Molybdenum HydrotreatingCatalysts”, published in APPLIED CATALYSIS, 39, 239-253 (1988). Inaddition to improving the thermal stability, phosphorous alters theacidity of the source alumina.

In 1992, Alcan obtained U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,871 entitled “Alumina-AlkaliMetal Aluminum Silicate Agglomerate Acid Adsorbent”. This patent doesnot refer to improvement of hydrothermal stability of the alumina, butdescribes the addition of sodium silicate and sodium aluminate in theagglomeration process of alumina powder to form an alkali metal aluminumsilicate coating on the internal surfaces of alumina. This alkali metalcoating provides the functionality of the agglomerate to serve as anadsorbent of acid substances.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention greatly improves the hydrothermal stability ofalumina desiccants and simultaneously reduces the dust formation withactivated aluminas. The modified adsorbent maintains low reactivity andis still suitable for application in reactive streams.

The existing processes for manufacturing activated alumina can easilyaccommodate the production of the hydrothermally stable aluminadescribed in the present invention. The additives used are inexpensiveand no adverse environmental effects are expected. No heat treatment isneeded as is the case in the prior art methods to prepare a thermallystable alumina carrier.

The hydrothermally stable alumina desiccants of the present inventionwill prolong the lifetime and improve the performance of all processesemploying thermal regeneration of the adsorbent. Severe regenerationapplications such as natural gas drying will especially benefit fromthis invention.

The transition alumina phases formed by rapid calcinations of aluminumhydroxide have high BET surface area and are very reactive toward water.While this feature is generally useful since it helps forming beads byagglomeration and allow for the fast pick up of moisture duringadsorption, in long term, especially at severe conditions of thermalregeneration of the adsorbent, it causes irreversible re-hydrationeffects, which speed up the aging process of alumina.

It is well known that the hydrothermal aging consists of conversion ofthe high surface area alumina phases to crystalline Boehmite (AlOOH)which has low BET surface area and is a poor adsorbent. The formation ofcrystalline Boehmite can be observed with several techniques such asX-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy and thermal gravimetricanalysis (TGA).

Activation at higher temperature increases somewhat the hydrothermalstability of alumina since it produces alumina phases, which are morestable toward re-hydration. Unfortunately, the BET surface area and theadsorption capacity decline after high temperature calcinations. On theother hand, this approach achieves only a moderate improvement of thehydrothermal stability of alumina.

The present invention provides a process of making a hydrothermallystable alumina adsorbent comprising mixing together a solutioncontaining a silica compound with a quantity of alumina powder toproduce alumina particulates, curing the alumina particulates and thenactivating said cured alumina particulates to produce a hydrothermallystable alumina adsorbent. In the preferred embodiment of the invention,the alumina particulates are treated with water or a colloidal silicasolution.

The hydrothermally stable alumina adsorbent comprises silica containingalumina particles comprising a core, a shell and an outer surface. Thecore contains between about 0.4 to 4 wt-% silica wherein said silica ishomogeneously distributed throughout the core and the shell extends upto 50 micrometers from the outer surface towards the core. Typically,the shell contains on average at least two times more silica than thecore.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the present invention, we found that the stability of the aluminatoward rehydration increases significantly by introducing silica in thecourse of the activated alumina manufacturing process. Surprisingly, nohigh temperature or activating agents are needed to achieve majorimprovement of the hydrothermal stability. The term “silica” as usedherein refers to a variety of silicon inorganic compounds ranging fromcolloidal solution of silica to silicic acid or alkali metal silicates.Ullmann's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY, Sixth Edition,Wiley-VCH, 2003, Vol. 32, pages 411-418 lists soluble inorganic siliconcompounds that are suitable for the purposes of the invention.

Inorganic silicon compound with limited solubility could be also usefulfor the purpose of the invention since their solubility enhances uponthe presence of transition alumina that has strong affinity to siliconcompounds. Thus, the transfer of discrete silicon moieties from thesolid inorganic compound through the surrounding liquid towardstransitional alumina could be facilitated.

One theory to explain the positive effect of the silica compound is thatsilica species tend to adhere to the most active sites on the aluminasurface, which are prone to fast rehydration. Thus, the silica specieswill then “deactivate” such rehydration sites by preventing them fromfurther reacting with water upon formation of unwanted hydroxyl compoundof alumina.

Although a mere spraying of activated alumina beads with colloidalsilica improves the hydrothermal stability, a very strong improvement isachieved when a soluble silica compound is admixed to the nodulizingliquid, which is used to form alumina beads in a rotating tub, forexample.

Strong improvement of both hydrothermal stability and dustiness can beattained by forming alumina particulates in presence of silica followedby spraying of the particulates with a colloidal silica solution. Theamount of silica can range from 0.1 to 8 wt-%. Addition of less that 5%silica is sufficient to produce a strong improvement in the hydrothermalstability. Normally, addition of about 2% silica is adequate forproducing alumina with excellent hydrothermal stability.

The adsorbents of the present invention are a hydrothermally stablealumina adsorbent that comprises silica containing alumina particlescomprising a core, a shell and an outer surface The core containsbetween about 0.4 to 4 wt-% silica with the silica homogeneouslydistributed throughout the core. The shell extends up to 50 micrometersfrom the outer surface towards the core and the shell contains onaverage at least two times more silica than the core.

The adsorbents of the present invention can be used for thermal swingprocess for drying and purification of gas and liquid streams. Among themost important types of gas streams that can be treated are natural gas,process gases in a variety of industrial processes such as refining andair prepurification in the air separation industry. Pressure swingadsorption processes can be operated with these adsorbents withlong-term stability towards rehydration and chemical attack combinedwith dust free operation.

The following examples illustrate the present invention.

EXAMPLE 1

Flash calcined alumina powder A-300 manufactured by UOP, Des Plaines,Ill., was fed into a 4 feet rotating tub at a rate of 0.8 lbs/min. Waterat a rate of 0.5 lb/min was also continuously supplied using a pump andnozzle assembly. Small amount of 30×40 mesh alumina seed was chargedfirst into the nodulizer in order to initiate forming of larger aluminabeads. The operation continued until about 50 lbs of material (8×14 meshnominal particle size) were accumulated. The sample was cured uponstorage in a closed container. Subsequently, about 4.5 lbs of the samplewas charged into a one feet pot and rotated for about 5 minutes whilesprayed with about 120 cc water. The sample was then immediatelyactivated at 400° C. for one hour using an oven with forced aircirculation. We refer to this sample as to AlWW where W designates waterused in both forming and additional spraying operations.

EXAMPLE 2

The procedure described in Example 1 was used except that 4.5 lbs ofalumina particulates were sprayed with a colloidal silica solution(Nalco 1130) to achieve addition of 0.8 mass-% SiO₂ calculated on anvolatile free alumina basis. We refer to this sample as to AlWSi whereSi stands for the silica used in the spraying operation.

EXAMPLE 3

Flash calcined alumina powder A-300 manufactured by UOP, Des Plaines,Ill., was fed into a 4 feet rotating tub at a rate of 0.8 lbs/min whilea pump and nozzle assembly continuously supplied at a rate of 0.51lbs/min a sodium silicate solution. The solution consisted of 1 partGrade 40 sodium silicate and about 8 parts water. Small amount of 30×40mesh alumina seed was charged first into the nodulizer in order toinitiate forming of larger alumina particulates. The operation continueduntil about 50 lbs of material were accumulated. The particle sizefraction 8×14 mesh was separated and subjected to curing in a closedcontainer. Subsequently, about 4.5 lbs of the sample was charged into aone feet pot, sprayed with about 120 cc water and activated as describedin Example 1. The silica content of this sample is about 2.2 mass-% ascalculated on a volatile free alumina basis. This sample is referred toas AlSiW.

EXAMPLE 4

Spherical particulates were prepared and cured as described in Example3. Instead of water, the particulates were sprayed with a colloidalsilica solution and activated as described in Example 2. This sample isreferred to as AlSiSi in order to show that Si is used in both formingand final spraying stage of material preparation.

The samples were tested for hydrothermal stability in an electricpressure steam sterilizer (All American, model # 25X). Six portions,five grams each, of the same sample were placed into the sterilizer andsubjected to steam treatment for about 17.5 hours at 17 to 20 psi (122°to 125° C.). The samples were tested after the treatment for Boehmiteformation using a FTIR method. A composite sample was prepared bymerging the individual samples and BET surface area was determined usingthe standard method with 300° C. activation step. BET surface area wasalso measured on the samples before the hydrothermal treatment.

Table 1 compares all the data, including data for other commercialdesiccants.

TABLE 1 BET before BET after Difference treatment treatment % SampleDescription m²/g m²/g m²/g Decrease AlWW Example 1 359 181 178 49.6%AlWSi Example 2 359 211 148 41.2% AlSiW Example 3 317 318 −1 −0.3%AlSiSi Example 4 305 321 −16 −5.2% CA-1 Commercial 343 200 143 41.7%alumina CA-2 Commercial 360 200 160 44.4% alumina SCA Commercial Si 340264 84 24.7% coated alumina SA Commercial 677 512 165 24.4% silicaalumina

Table 1 shows that introducing colloidal silica helps to increase thehydrothermal stability—compare AlWW to AlWSi sample and the SCA sampleto CA-2 sample (SCA is prepared by silica coating of alumina beads).However, a strong increase of the hydrothermal; stability is observedwhen Si is introduced while forming particulates—Examples 3 and 4. Thesamples AlSiW and AlSiSi have a higher BET surface area than do thefresh samples after hydrothermal treatment.

Table 2 shows that spraying with colloidal silica is needed to reducethe dustiness of the Si nodulized alumina particulates. Nodulizing inpresence of an inorganic silica compound, such as sodium silicate,followed by spraying with colloidal silica allows for strongimprovements in both hydrothermal stability and dustiness.

The dustiness was measured using turbidity measurements as practiced foralumina and other adsorbents.

TABLE 2 Turbidity Sample Description NTU Units AlWW Example 1 44.0 AlWSiExample 2 10.6 AlSiW Example 3 107.0 AlSiSi Example 4 35.4

The data suggests that introducing up to 2-3% SiO₂ with the nodulizingliquid would strongly increase the hydrothermal stability of alumina.Treatment with colloidal silica to add additionally 1-2% SiO₂ is thenneeded since the Si nodulized material tends to be dustier than thewater nodulized alumina.

Sodium silicate was used herein because it is cheap and readilyavailable. Other silica compounds may be used.

A possible advantage of an alkali metal silicate is that it contains analkali metal, which can “neutralize” some acid sites should activealuminosilicate form upon thermal treatment.

1. A process of making a hydrothermally stable alumina adsorbentcomprising mixing together a solution containing a silica compound witha quantity of alumina powder to produce alumina particulates, curingsaid alumina particulates and then activating said cured aluminaparticulates to produce said hydrothermally stable alumina adsorbent. 2.The process of claim 1 further comprising spraying said aluminaparticulates with water or a colloidal silica solution.
 3. The processof claim 1 further comprising spraying said cured alumina particulateswith water or a colloidal silica solution.
 4. The process of claim 1wherein said silica compound is at least one compound selected from thegroup consisting of alkali and alkaline earth metal silicates.
 5. Theprocess of claim 4 wherein said silica compound is a sodium silicate. 6.The process of claim 1 wherein said hydrothermally stable aluminaadsorbent comprises between 0.1 and 8 percent by weight silica.
 7. Theprocess of claim 6 wherein said hydrothermally stable alumina adsorbentcomprises between 2 to 4 percent by weight silica.
 8. The process ofclaim 6 wherein said silica is added by spraying of a colloidal silicasolution.
 9. The process of claim 1 wherein said hydrothermally stablealumina adsorbent comprises about 2 percent by weight silica within saidadsorbent and about 2 percent by weight silica coating said adsorbent.10. The process of claim 1 wherein said hydrothermally stable aluminaadsorbent comprises silica containing alumina particles comprising acore, a shell and an outer surface, said core containing between about0.4 to 4 wt-% silica wherein said silica is homogeneously distributedthroughout said core and said shell extending up to 50 micrometers fromsaid outer surface towards said core and wherein said shell contains onaverage at least two times more silica than said core.
 11. A silicacontaining alumina particle comprising a core, a shell and an outersurface, said core containing between about 0.4 to 4 wt-% silica whereinsaid silica is homogeneously distributed throughout said core and saidshell extending up to 50 micrometers from said outer surface towardssaid core and wherein said shell contains on average at least two timesmore silica than said core.
 12. The silica containing alumina particleof claim 11 wherein said shell contains silica that is derived from acolloidal silica solution.
 13. A process for drying or purifying a gasor liquid stream comprising contacting said gas or liquid stream with anadsorbent comprising the silica containing alumina particles of claim11.
 14. The process of claim 13 wherein said gas is natural gas.
 15. Theprocess of claim 13 wherein said gas is air.
 16. The process of claim 13wherein said process is a thermal swing adsorption process or a pressureswing adsorption process.